This invention relates to the protection of vehicles and particularly the paint and surface finish from damage caused by hard objects or the doors of adjacent vehicles.
Most vehicle owners have endured the anger of having their vehicles damaged as the door of an adjacent vehicle strikes the side panel of their vehicle in a parking situation. Most vehicle manufacturers do provide permanent molding strips on their vehicles which usually are positioned for style rather than function.
Inasmuch as there is no standard for door height or molding strip height, any permanently mounted molding strip will not be effective for all parking damage situations.
In order to solve this problem, people have used cardboard or foam sheets or slabs mounted with wire or magnets to try to protect their vehicles. The problem with these devices is that they are unsightly, cannot be secured to the vehicle, can be blown away with the wind, tend to deteriorate quickly from use, and often do not provide adequate impact absorbtion and dispersion qualities.
In order to overcome these problems, the present invention provides a design that does not look unsightly when mounted on a vehicle, has the ability of being locked to the side of the vehicle to prevent theft, has an internal unidirectional semi-rigid member that allows the molding to be bent to the contours of the vehicle but is rigid in its ground parallel dimension to assure that the molding will always appear straight. The internal semi-rigid member also adds additional impact absorbtion and dispersion qualities. The magnet is a soft, flexible magnet that will not damage the vehicle finish, is sufficiently strong not to be blown off by the wind or rain yet allows convenient removal for storage during vehicle motion.
Further, in accordance with the invention, the moldings may be used on top of the vehicle for carrying light loads where the moldings provide protection of the roof finish by acting as a barrier between the roof and the load.